A/N: I'm going back on my word to add this. (feel free to unfav)

Spoiler warning for the last episode!

Julian Bashir was certain that he had packed everything. He quickly moved all of his personal belongings out of his quarters. Some items were sold, destroyed, or given to practicing colleagues. The room had lost all personal touches.

So much of it is lost.

The human remembered a bitter Cardassian voice grieving for the deaths of his people. Julian had lost many friends and pieces of his own bright persona, but it was nothing compared to Elim's losses. The Cardassian was bereft of his people and his home.

So many of our best people…our most gifted minds…

Garak had witnessed the death of both his father and mother within a short timeframe. Elim did not speak of Mila much, but his blue eyes always glimmered with respect and affection when her name was mentioned. He had inherited many of her characteristics, and not merely physical traits. His meticulousness and guardedness were Tain, but his passion and wit were all Mila. At least with this war Julian had been the one fighting for his family. His family was healthy and safe, far away from the atrocities of war.

Entire Cardassian cities had been leveled. Their way of life was on the brink of destruction. The statistical number of orphans and widows rose as disease and infection ravaged the populace.

I'm sorry, Garak. I didn't mean-

Oh, it's…it's quite all right, doctor.

The situation was far from all right. Billions were suffering across the Alpha Quadrant. Julian wanted to reverse time, to bring back the past when the only antagonists in their lives had been mishaps. Julian wanted to bring back a year when they could smile again, when joy and laughter were no longer scarce and Elim's home was whole. A particular memory came to mind.

Garak frowned, forehead ridges becoming furrowed as he squinted with concentration. His screen pen danced over the plastic surface. His writing implement made short and long marks with practiced precision. It had been a year since he had worked this way, but his Cardassian muscle memory remembered the movements combined with the power of his observation.

The spidery scrawl of outlines flowed across the data pad. He would be able to screen print the design with ease now that he had the overall structure down. He would vary up the colors once he applied them to the fabric surface. The holosuite door opened and a smile flitted across the tailor's features. There was the light trod of a slight form on the holosuite floor. Garak could sense the metal echo. The floor might appear as dirt, but his Cardassian senses could discern fantasy from reality.

"I thought that breaking into someone's holosuite program was illegal," he said it lightly, letting a teasing note slip into the statement.

A lean body slid down next to him and a long neck craned over his shoulder. Elim glanced over at the curious hazel eyes, observing his reaction.

"So I hear, but it looks like your privacy hasn't been breached. You're using the holosuite as an art reference?"

Elim beamed and continued to sketch. "You'd be surprised how helpful it is to record the dynamics of an object while in its natural habitat."

Bashir looked over at the cluster of flowers the Cardassian was sketching, eyes wide with bafflement. Taking pity on the doctor's cluelessness, the tailor chose to enlighten him.

"My client is paying rather handsomely for an original piece."

"Oh! They must like daffodils."

Garak hummed agreement, finishing up the drawing and applying a few last colored details. He clicked on a picture of an elaborate blank tunic. He dragged the drawing beside it and placed it over the surface. Large and small daffodils bloomed intricately over the folds of cloth.

"I don't think I've ever seen you put so much effort into something like this before."

"I wouldn't call this a particularly large effort. They paid a hefty sum for a hand drawn design and I had the capabilities to provide."

Julian watched Garak add deep green trimming to the image of the tunic and gave a small sigh. "It seems like it would be relaxing to design things." His tone was envious.

The Cardassian smiled serenely up at him. "Such a level can be reached with practice. Did you enter the holosuite to discover my activities or did you have a particular topic in mind to discuss…?

"You didn't have the holosuite safeties on."

"Ah, I see. I don't wish to trivialize your concern, but I hardly think the flowers wish me harm."

The doctor shrugged. "Maybe not, but the hornets do if you get close to their nest."

"Hornets?" The Cardassian was looking unnerved. "Are those the flying venomous creatures that terrorize Terrans?"

The doctor thought for a moment. It was odd to think about hornets that way, but it was accurate. "I wouldn't call them terrorizing, but a large swarm can be unpleasant. The original programmer put in a couple of surprise nests as a prank. Felix knew them personally and told me about him."

"He sounds quite discourteous. Well doctor, I'll keep alert for buzzing insects," the tailor hastened to reassure him.

The Cardassian slipped his stylus back into the fabric slip on the side of his PADD. He gracefully rose up and dusted himself off. Dry flecks of dirt hung in the air for a moment.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your project."

"It's perfectly all right. I was finished and the holosuite session was coming to an end."

Secretly, Julian thought that was a poor excuse. Everyone on the station had a phobia of some kind. Even the doctor himself had a fear of falling. Miles was not exactly thrilled about centipedes and grubs, Jadzia had a particular aversion to spiders, and Kira disliked feeling trapped. To discover that Garak probably feared stinging insects in addition to enclosed spaces was not surprising.

Julian took a step back to let the Cardassian pass, stepping right into a glaring patch of sunlight. He shielded his eyes. His hand accidentally brushed against a tree branch overhead.

"I'm surprised you chose such a sunny backdrop. I thought Cardassians prefer their surroundings dark."

Garak strode past him towards the holosuite exit, talking all the while. "With natural lighting it hardly matters. I was hoping to best recreate Terran conditions for the customer. The appropriate lighting is-…doctor, do you hear buzzing?"

"Oh no."

Apparently his casual brush of the foliage had aggravated a nest of hornets. Intense buzzing filled the air and the faint shadow of insects could be seen darting around.

Garak's eyes grew large and he and the doctor beat a hasty retreat through the holosuite doors. They pressed the door button repeatedly until they staggered out of the holosuite. They were out of breath and dusty. Garak was striding faster than necessary and his solid build nearly brought them down to the floor. They supported each other until they reached the safety of the interior of Quark's Bar.

They panted for a moment, Julian hunched over with his hands on his knees and Garak with a hand on the human's back to steady them. Suddenly, Bashir began to laugh. He snickered gleefully like a schoolboy that had gotten away with a particularly juvenile prank. Unable to help himself, the tailor chuckled as well. Some of the patrons at the bar watched their antics curiously.

Julian straightened up, gasping and glowing with the brightness of his smile. "Are you all right?"

"Quite. And you?"

"I'm fine, but I think I have a healthier fear of hornets than before. You know, we could have just frozen or ended the program," Bashir mused.

"Instinct has its merits. There was no failsafe in case the programmer took away those features. Running increases circulation and I think the outcome was a beneficiary rather than a detriment."

Julian straightened up, still grinning. "There's hope for me yet?"

The tailor looked thoroughly pleased by the doctor's rehashing of his phrase. "Indeed, doctor. There's always hope for you."

Julian smiled softly, the smile not quite reaching his eyes.

You've been such a good friend. I'm going to miss our lunches together.

He had not been a decent friend during the war. Garak was loyal to a fault and never missed an opportunity to compliment him, forgive his negligence, and lift his spirits when times were the darkest. He should have told the Cardassian how his friendship was the thing that kept him moving. He fought through the misery and violence because of every grain of kindness that had ever been given to him.

I'm sure we'll see each other again.
I'd like to think so, but one can never say. We live in uncertain times.

Bashir threw a reading PADD into his travel case. It held plenty of human novels, a memento for when all that was familiar was far away. Julian shut down the terminal in his quarters. The replicator had disposed of his belongings, but the things that held the most value always went with him. He reviewed Starfleet's new orders in his mind. With the war over and all of the fighting dwindling down, it was time for worlds to recover. Starfleet medical encouraged non-essential personnel to help people in need, and so he had obtained permission to go on this excursion, to make himself useful where doctors were needed most.

Uncertain times don't dictate what we do, Garak. Julian's smile was genuine as he thought to himself. We'll always have a choice…and this is mine.

The doctor left his quarters on the station, walking straight-backed down the corridor. He was unlikely to return for many years.

The End

A/N: There's not much pain today, so I decided to edit old stuff. Not exactly better, but still hanging around